Sexton, Lawrence bring qualifying prowess to Motor City
Championship rivals Tomac and Webb to head to the gates fifth and sixth.
Image: Octopi Media.
Team Honda HRC riders Hunter Lawrence and Chase Sexton brought the team’s consistent qualifying excellence to Detroit and swept the 250SX East and 450SX qualifying for the 10th 2023 Monster Energy Supercross round.
With blazing speed through the whoops and the rest of the way around the challenging Ford Field track, Sexton executed a 51.439s time to finalize another perfect qualifying day for Honda, which topped all four A-group sessions.
Indianapolis winner Ken Roczen (Progressive Insurance Ecstar Suzuki) owned the top spot early in Q2, but was eclipsed by Sexton and later Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Jason Anderson.
Anderson was just 0.052s short of Sexton and two-tenths clear of Roczen.
Anderson’s Kawasaki stablemate Adam Cianciarulo was fifth at the checkered flag, ahead of reigning champion Eli Tomac (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) and Red Bull KTM’s new points leader Cooper Webb.
Christian Craig (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna), Justin Barcia (TLD Red Bull GasGas), Aaron Plessinger (Red Bull KTM), and Dean Wilson (Fire Power Honda) earned the final spots in the top 10 leading into the night show.
Image: Octopi Media.
Comfortably leading the 250SX East points entering the Detroit round, Lawrence remained the class of the field as the fastest qualifier in the Motor City.
Lawrence lapped the Ford Field track at 51.999s near the end of the second group-A qualifying session to secure the top spot.
At 51.261s, Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Jordon Smith landed second, 0.262s in arrears of Lawrence’s chart-topping pace.
The other two Star Racing-prepared Yamaha YZ250F bikes were next in third and fourth, at the hands of Nate Thrasher and Haiden Deegan, both of whom dealt with troubles near the end of the whoops earlier in the day, including a crash for Thrasher.
Max Anstie gave Fire Power Honda representation in the top five at 1.054s off Lawrence, while Jeremy Martin (Muc-Off FXR ClubMX Yamaha), Chris Blose (Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki), AJ Catanzaro, Jeremy Hand, and Jace Owen (Phoenix Racing Honda) rounded out the top 10.
Detailed results
Recent
